Petrie and the Intriguing Idiosyncrasies of Racism

• Published in: Bulletin of the history of archaeology Vol. 14; no. 2; pp. 15 - 20
• Main Author: Ramsey, Jason D.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Ubiquity Press 25.11.2004
• Subjects: egyptology; human typologies; racism
• ISSN: 1062-4740; 2047-6930
• DOI: 10.5334/bha.14203

William Matthews Flinders Petrie, ‘generally regarded as the father of modern Near Eastern archaeology’ (Silberman 1991:80), is remembered as a veritable genius, renowned for his powerful memory and intellectual abilities which played an important part in many of the ground-breaking developments in methodology he brought about. Yet modern archaeologists are selective in deciding which parts of Petrie’s legacy are to be highlighted. As a corrective to this, Silberman (1991, 1999) has not only drawn attention to the racist ideology that permeated Petrie’s thinking, but also suggests that this framework of thought crucially influenced many of his revolutionary interpretive techniques. The final deed Petrie envisaged for himself was the donation of his head to the Royal College of Surgeons in London ‘for further scientific study . . . [and] as a specimen of a typical British skull’ (Drower 1985:424). As far as Silberman (1999) is concerned, such an act was wholly symbolic of Petrie’s raciallyinformed viewpoint and of his self-identity.